


Lamia

by tattooeddevil



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Hospitals, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-02
Updated: 2012-12-02
Packaged: 2017-11-20 02:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/580363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tattooeddevil/pseuds/tattooeddevil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared falls for Jensen. Literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lamia

The fountain with its cool water is a welcome treat, but that’s not what he is here to see. The reason he traveled all the way from Texas to Rome in Italy, is behind him. _Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti_ , the Spanish Steps. He traveled a long way to be here today, but with the sun overhead and the Piazza di Spagna bustling with people he forgets all about the long flight and the too small bed in the too small hotel room. It is absolutely gorgeous.

Jared sits down on the bottom step of the 138 marble steps that lead to the top, to the church and Villa Medici, and gazes around the square. He’s having a hard time believing he is actually here. Alone, which isn’t exactly like he planned, but damn stupid Chris and his sudden stupid need for “space and time”. He is not going to let a little break up ruin his long awaited trip to Rome and the house he came for; the home of John Keats, where he lived until he died in 1821. Chris had scowled when Jared had said he wanted to visit the spot his favorite poet had died, saying Jared was childish for idolizing “a dead guy that knew how to rhyme, big whoop”. Chris was a Jay-Z fan, Jared’s pretty sure Keats could write better rhymes than that guy.

There are all kinds of languages spoken around him, but he understands none of them. It’s fun, watching and listening to people as they walk past him or sit down a few steps above him. He takes a deep breath and lets himself relax completely. He is here, in Italy, in Rome, on the steps right where his hero died all those centuries ago. His English History teacher is going to be so incredibly jealous. Chris is an ass for breaking up with him before this trip.

He sits like that, with his head in the sun and his eyes closed, for what seems like an eternity before he forces himself to get up and climb the stairs to the first square halfway to the top to enjoy the view. Immediately, he is approached by men selling everything from roses to umbrella’s and Indian scarves, but Jared sends them all away with a shake of his head. All he wants is to absorb everything he can before visiting the home of his idol at the bottom of the steps.

The view is amazing too, as is everything he’s seen of Rome so far. When the fifth guy with roses comes to bother him, he has a fleeting moment of wishing Chris was here with him, but it goes as fast as it came. He doesn’t need a boyfriend to be happy. He just needs this; a beautiful city and a bit of piece. Of course, that’s when everything goes to hell in a hand basket.

Things are going well, right up until he stares at a hot guy passing him by and he places his foot wrong on one of the steps leading up from the square to the top where the church is. His ankle snaps double, his knee blows out and he crashes into the unforgiving marble steps, hip-first. A white-hot pain shoot up from his leg to his chest and Jared gasps for air from the punch. The searing pain meets another shot of fiery hot hurt where his wrist snaps under the weight of his body trying to catch himself and then everything greys out. Things go fuzzy, muted, and a wash of nausea floods his system. There are voices around him, but he can’t make out what they’re saying. A flood of panic leaves him breathless and he can feel his lungs closing up, but then there’s a cool hand on his forehead and a low, soothing voice in his ear.

“Just breathe man, just breathe. Come on, breathe through it.”

The voice keeps telling him to breathe and when he does so, the world comes back into focus. The sickness in his stomach subsides and when he focuses on his surroundings, he can make out concerned faces and the cold, marble stones he is lying on.

“‘m cold.”

The voice chuckles and the cool hand moves down to his cheek.

“I know, but you’re burning up though. Just breathe, okay? The ambulance is on its way.”

“A-ambulance?”

“Yeah. You took a pretty bad fall, I think your wrist is broken and possibly your hip or leg too.”

Jared swallows past the dryness in his mouth and manages a breathless chuckle.

“What are you, a doctor?”

“Med student actually.”

Jared mumbles out a “lucky me” before his vision spins and he passes out. His last thought is how he doesn’t know who his mysterious helper is and how he can’t ever thank him.

When he comes to the first time, it is to a cold hand on his arm and a soft snore in his ear. His neck is stiff, but he manages to turn his head on his pillow enough to look at the sleeping form next to him. The guy looks vaguely familiar, but Jared can’t exactly place him. He must have made a noise of some kind, because the guy suddenly lifts his head and fixes bright green eyes on Jared’s. The green swirls from the eyes and starts to swirl across the room. When the guy smiles tentatively, the white of his teeth becomes a light that flies through the room, and chases the green swirls. Jared is enthralled.

“Upon a time, before the faery broods, Drove Nymph and Satyr from the prosperous woods.”

The voice from the Spanish Steps is back in his ear with a snicker.

“Good drugs, huh?”

“Before King Oberon's bright diadem, Sceptre, and mantle, clasp'd with dewy gem, Frighted away the Dryads and the Fauns.”

The cool hand settles over his eyes, forces them closed, and the voice tells him to sleep.

“You’ll feel better when you wake up.”

He does feel better when he wakes up again. He is also a lot brighter than before. A nurse is checking the bag hanging from his bed when he opens his eyes and she smiles at him. It reminds him of something, but he can’t remember what.

“Hey there, sleepy-head. Welcome back. Do you know where you are?”

Jared nods.

“Hospital. Rome.”

“That’s right. How are you feeling? Experiencing any pain?”

Jared takes a moment to check, but apart from a stiff neck, he doesn’t really feel anything, so he shakes his head. The nurse smiles again.

“Good. I’ll tell the doctor you’re awake, he’ll come by to talk to you about your status. I’ll also go wake up your boyfriend, we finally managed to get him to lay down in our on-call room about two hours ago. He wouldn’t leave your side until we promised to wake him as soon as you were in the land of the living.”

Jared’s too confused to respond. Chris is here? What is Chris doing here, and why? But when the door opens, it is not Chris that walks through it. It’s the hot guy from the Spanish Steps, the one that Jared nearly broke his neck over. The one he actually broke a few other bones over, judging from the limited movement he’s got in his legs and arms. The guy smiles sheepishly and Jared is instantly reminded of flashes of green and white from his dreams.

“Hi. Good to see you’re awake.”

Then, it suddenly clicks in Jared’s head. The voice, the familiar face, the fall, the cool hand.

“I nearly died over you.”

He didn’t mean to blurt it out like that, but he did and now the guy is furiously blushing. It’s the cutest thing Jared’s ever seen. He doesn’t know how much drugs are still in his system, but he’s pretty sure he just fell in love.

“I’m sorry?”

He waves a dismissive hand and tries for a cheeky smile.

“It was my own fault anyway. So, boyfriend, huh?”

The guy blushes furiously again and shrugs, feigning casualness.

“It was the only way they’d let me stay with you. I didn’t want you to be alone. You know, in a country where you don’t speak the language and all?”

Jared loves the red flush on the guy’s face and he wants to keep it there for a little while longer before he falls asleep again. He can already feel it pulling on him.

“How do you know I don’t speak Italian?”

Sure enough, the blush spreads across the guy’s face again and Jared lets his eyes slip shut with a pleased grin.

“Do you want me to go?”

“No, stay. I need someone to keep the hot Italian nurses off my sweet ass while I’m asleep.”

The guy chuckles and Jared feels him sitting down in the chair next to the bed. A by now familiar cool hand lands on Jared’s forehead and the also familiar voice whispers in his ear.

“Go to sleep, Jared, I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

The guy - Jared should really ask his name if they’re gonna be pretend boyfriends - is across the room, talking to a man in a white coat when Jared wakes up next. Jared’s doctor, he guesses. Jared lifts the arm that’s not weighed down by- well, something, Jared can’t really lift his head to look.

“Doc?”

The doctor and Jared’s ‘boyfriend’ turn to him simultaneously at Jared’s question. They both smile, but the doctor’s smile is a little strained.

“Bad news?”

“Well, it’s not good.”

The doctor’s accent is heavy, but he talks slow enough for Jared to understand. He talks about the fractures in Jared’s wrist, ankle and femur and something called osteoporosis. Jared has no idea what that is, but Spanish Steps guy nods at him with a secretive smile as if to say he’ll explain later. Jared’s a little warmed over how they already have silent conversations. Yeah, he’s smitten.

“Basically you have a very serious bone disease, but as long as you are very careful with not falling, it should not be a big problem.”

Jared snorts.

“Apart from the fact I am a major klutz and I spazz out on a daily basis.”

The doctor looks puzzled, but Jared’s pretend-boyfriends smiles at the doctor reassuringly.

“I’ll make sure he is careful, doctor.”

The doctor seems assured by that and leaves a big stack of papers for Jared to fill out. Insurance papers, all kinds of release papers and waivers and travel preparations to go home.

Jared sighs. There goes his trip of the Keats house.

“I’m sorry, Jared. I’m pretty sure this is not how you imagined your vacation to end.”

The guy has taken the chair next to his bed again and is looking at Jared with sympathy. Jared snorts.

“Like I said, I’m a klutz. Although I’ve never broken anything before, certainly not three bones at the same time.”

“I guess there’s a first time for everything?”

Jared nods and starts leafing through the papers. Most of them are in English, but he really isn’t up for it just yet. Something about hip height starts to hurt a little and his mind is whirling with what to do now. He needs one question answered first though.

“I never got your name.”

The guy blushes and holds out his hand for Jared to shake.

“It’s Jensen. Jensen Ackles.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Jensen Ackles. I am Jared Padalecki.”

Jensen blushes again and Jared already know he’s never gonna get tired of seeing that. Whatever happens, he is not letting go of Jensen easily.

“Do I hear a little Texas in there?”

“Yeah. San Antonio.”

“No kidding! I’m from Richardson! I’m in Austin now though, med school.”

They both laugh at the one in a million chance of a couple of Texans meeting halfway across the world like this.

“We should meet up once we’re both back.”

As usual, Jared’s mouth blabs without his permission, but judging by Jensen’s pleased little smile, he hasn’t stuck his foot in his mouth.

“Yeah. You need someone to drag your ass around.”

Jared nearly chokes on his own spit at Jensen’s words, but he manages to not kill himself over the man again. Just. He barely refrains from making a crude remark about his ass, he’s pretty sure they’re not there yet. He can wait. A little.

Jensen has to go home a few days later, but he spends most of his time that’s left with Jared, making sure he doesn’t go stir crazy and that he doesn’t fill out his address in the “allergic to” field on the forms. He says he doesn’t have much else to do, as it’s his last few days in Rome following a study trip and he’s already seen most of the city. Jared has no idea how true it is, but he welcomes Jensen’s company. Jensen is funny, smart, they both root for the Cowboys and he loves how passionate Jared gets about poetry and Keats. Jared falls deeper and harder for Jensen than he did there on the Spanish Steps. Thankfully, so does Jensen.

Jared finally gets to see the Keats house in Rome a year later, when Jensen takes him to celebrate their first anniversary in the city and the spot they first met. It is everything Jared dreamt of and more, just because he gets to share it with Jensen.


End file.
